wrestling / Columns
Evolution Schematic 01.19.08: Mankind (Part 1)
Writer’s Notes
Small might have had the Top 50 IWC for 07 (well, a vague approximation of it that is clearly pointless since it lacks ME), but you just wait for The Great WWE/411 Conversion Chart!, coming soon to this very website. Which 411 Staff Member is YOUR favourite or least favourite WWE Superstar? Stay tuned for the next week where I can’t do a regular column! Since as we all know, Controversy = Hits. It’s like Bischoff is booking the internet, when usually it’s Russo booking for the internet.
That wasn’t quite the zinger I imagined. Maybe being somewhat of a Russo mark (I know, I know…) made me pull back. Or maybe it’s the Coke & Bourbons I’ve had. Eh.
Today’s column is one in a series, “The Mirror Crack’d: Deconstructing Mick Foley”. Part 1, Dude Love, can be found there. The concept, for those who don’t feel like reading, is fairly simple.
This column’s idea, its existence, is all about showing you, my loyal or non-loyal reader, how despite massive, MASSIVE changes in a Wrestler’s life, it all makes sense, overall. Occasionally we take a break from explanation and just focus on recapping a belt or match type, but for the most part, it’s all about showing how all aspects are really the same aspect in different lights.
Mick Foley is the main exception to this rule.
For poor Mick has multiple personalities, wildly different. And to truly understand Mick, you must first understand his personas. Only then can we tie it all up in a bow. We have reviewed Dude Love. Now, we look at Mankind.
Overview
Mankind. More than anyone else, he had proven that you should never rebel, because you’ll end up being the thing you rebel against.
Originally created as a way to mock, to rebel against Vince McMahon for not taking Cactus Jack, he ended up being a perfect PR Dream. A persona created to be dark, twisted and evil, to match a boss Mick saw as having those traits, he ended up as a ‘Human Muppet’. How the hell does that happen?
Mankind is, in some respects, the closest to Mick Foley that has existed. But in other ways, he’s far away from him. For Mankind is proof that Mick Foley craves acceptance. What began as a way to reject, and mock those who did not accept him for what he was, ended up the way, the vehicle for him to gain that respect, to gain the acceptance he craved.
And it also got him three World Title reigns. So that’s a plus.
Origins- Only Mick is this crazy.
Mick’s history is, like The Undertaker’s, like Kane’s, like Abyss’, clouded. Certainly we all know the ‘official’ version, the Mick Foley version. But that’s not Mankind’s history, at least as HE sees it. To understand the persona, one must understand where, in its mind, it began.
Growing up in Long Island, Mick was a child prodigy with Music. The kid could play Piano. Classical Piano. This did not exactly get him many friends, as one could guess. But his mother was very proud.
And then, in an act that showed that Mick wasn’t like over boys, he took a hammer and attacked his own fingers, so he could never play again.
However, this was an isolated case, as his insane, bubbling personas saw the reaction that this one act got, and hid themselves to preserve themselves. But subtly, they might very well have tried to steer pour little Mick’s life, trying to find a way to get to release the pain, the suffering, the physical and mental chaos they wanted to inflict on the world and get away with it. So Mick became a wrestling fan.
But while on one hand he took to Terry Funk, he also took to Shawn Michaels. Mankind, or the proto-Mankind inside Mick’s head, was left without a champion, without a yardstick to compare himself with. So as Mick started out, in his head, Dude Love fought Cactus Jack. Cactus Jack won, and Mick went onto 10 years of chaos, blood, mayhem, blood, injuries, blood, pain, blood, blood and losing half an ear. With blood.
Some people think that Cactus and Mankind are, or at least were at the start, similar, just a mask and drab clothing the only difference. But this is incorrect, as there was a major difference between Jack and Kind. Cactus Jack set out, first and foremost, to win matches. Mankind never cared about wins and losses. For him, it wasn’t about getting his hand raised, or belts. It was about hurting people. It was the part of Mick that didn’t care. Cactus Jack cared, Jack was about doing everything he could to win the match. Mankind would just attack you. If he got the win from the ref, fine. It was the Moral Victory that he wanted.
And it was a Moral Loss of sorts, that finally led to him emerging.
Debut- Have A Nice Day!
Cactus Jack cared about things. He cared about the fans until he realised that they didn’t deserve him, so he started caring about his fellow wrestlers, wanting what was best for them. But for several reasons, Jack was never going to get a job in Stamford. The WWF weren’t interested in Cactus Jack, and told him so.
So he offered a second option.
Mankind, for whatever reason, seemed to appeal to them, perhaps they felt that a less passionate, crazier persona would ironically be easier to control, since he wouldn’t get fixated on other people’s feelings, he’d just attack people.
And so Mankind came into being, while Cactus Jack, knowing he had lost, fulfilled his obligations. And then Mankind debuted in the ring for the WWF the night after Wrestlemania XII, and people were…confused for the most part. But soon enough, that very night Mankind would make an impact.
Phase 1b- Rest In *Clang!*
He targeted The Undertaker, attacking him 24 hours after Taker defeated Diesel. Mankind, after all, had been thrown to the wolves in a way by Dude Love and Cactus Jack. Jack would have no part in the WWF (for now), and Dude wasn’t ready yet. So Mankind got a chance simply because the other two personas couldn’t be bothered. That, coupled with anger about it taking so long to get a chance in the WWF from Mick, meant that Mankind was here to attack, to destroy, to end not just people, but the WWF itself. WWF didn’t respect him, so why should he respect it? And while Shawn Michaels was the new focal point of the company, he was too well protected, too well connected to target right off the bat. But Taker, the TRUE mainstay of the company, he could be targeted, he could be taken down. Mankind cost him match after match, brawling with Taker, until finally he got a one on one match on PPV with Taker at King Of The Ring 1996.
And shocking many, Mankind won, thanks to Paul Bearer ‘accidentally’ hitting Taker with the urn. Paul Bearer by this time shared Mankind’s view, felt that yes indeed, the WWF should pay. And Taker especially. And while Paul’s secret weapon was not quite ready yet, Mankind would be a perfect substitute. So Paul made a deal with Mankind, long before KOTR. Mankind covered his tracks by pretending to want Sable as a ‘Mommy’ to make it seem like he was insane will still crowing about his ‘win’ over Taker. But neither man was satisfied with just their match at KOTR, so after a couple of months on continued attacks, run-ins, DQs and most importantly, brawls into The Boiler Room (where Mankind liked to pass the time playing Spider Solitaire and making bead jewellery), that a rematch was signed for Summerslam, in a Boiler Room Brawl, where the match began in the boiler room, and would end when one man got to a certain point, arbitrary picked as being the man who took the Urn from Paul Bearer.
One turn later, and Mankind had Uncle Paul, and Taker went from being annoyed to being PISSED.
We interrupt this Schematic to bring you an important message from ‘The Society Of People Who Want To Do Things To Rebecca Knox.’
~The HOTNESS of Rebecca Knox~
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We thank you for your time. Viva La Rebecca-Lution! And no, I will not thank whom I stole this off, he can go [BEEP] himself.
Phase 2- The Dark Side is strong in this one… Persona.
Mankind and Paul’s secret plan was now public as Paul abandoned Undertaker, and it seemed to, at first, pay dividends. Due to his win/loss record against Taker, Mankind was given the #1 Contender status, and got a WWF Title match at In Your House: Mind Games, in what had been a lost classic before it got stuck on every WWE DVD put out ever. But that match was the start of the refocus of Mankind of a sort. It was that match that Mankind’s stranglehold on the mind of Mick Foley began to loosen slightly, not that you noticed at the time.
But after losing by DQ, Undertaker came calling again, and so a ‘final’ match was signed, to try and stop the Taker/Mankind war. A Buried Alive match.
Mankind lost the match but won the ‘war’, as while Mankind was buried enough to declare Taker the winner, he then emerged thanks to The Executioner’s help, and then a whole bunch of Wrestlers came out to help bury The Undertaker.
Who then emerged from the dirt.
So yet ANOTHER ‘final’ match was signed between the two, at Survivor Series, with Paul Bearer in a cage above the ring. Mankind was finally beaten by Taker, although Taker’s promised chance to get his hands on Bearer was ruined by The Executioner.
Phase 2b- Mankind & The Guy Who Ripped His Ear Off. Tag Partners.
After The Executioner was beaten and humiliated by Taker, he left, so Paul searched for another ally for Mankind while he spun his wheels, waiting for Paul to find a guy. Paul found Vader, helping him beat The Undertaker at the 97 Royal Rumble, gaining Mankind an ally while Mankind entered the Rumble itself. That match saw two important things happen, it saw Mankind get tossed by Undertaker, and then he got into a brawl with Terry Funk. This brawl both indirectly helped Stone Cold Steve Austin win the match (since it distracted the referees as Austin was eliminated) and it also awakened in some small way Cactus Jack. But Mankind shut him down, pushing him down.
Mankind and Vader then formed a formidable, if unpredictable tag team, ending up with a World Tag Title match at Wrestlemania 13. They however got counted out along with the champs, The British Bulldog and Owen Hart, so that was a blow.
But then Taker ended up winning the World title that night, and Mankind was the obvious man to get first crack at beating him, since he had so many wins over the Dead Man. Just to make sure though, he threw a fireball into Undertaker’s face.
So at Revenge Of The Taker, Undertaker finally closed the chapter on the Taker/Mankind war, as he defeated him, kept his title, and then he launched a fireball into Paul’s face, putting him on the injured list for a long time, and leaving Mankind directionless. And then a funny thing happened.
Phase 3- Mankind… Beloved?
Jim Ross, as a man who knew Mick Foley, sat down with Mankind for some sit-down interviews to try and sort him out, to try and set him right again, or failing that, to help the people understand why he was how he was. And while the series of interviews led to both Mankind locking in the Mandible Claw to JR and revealing Dude Love to the general public, they still managed to get the fans behind Mick, somehow. He had been cheered at Cold Day In Hell when he made Rocky Miavia submit, but that was different, after the interviews, Mankind was cheered.
While railing against the system and complaining about lack of respect, somehow Mankind got it.
So he entered the King Of The Ring tournament, his first match as a fan favourite his first round match against Savio Vega. But at first, Mankind was confused and couldn’t quite understand it. He cut promos lamenting how he had lost Uncle Paul, and other bizarre rantings. But after Hunter Hearse Helmsley and Chyna humiliated him in the finals of the KOTR tourney, after the two beat him up and tore his mask off, he finally regained his focus. He targeted the hated Helmsley like he once targeted the beloved Undertaker, and the two began to start a long involved feud.
And then Shawn Michaels got injured, and Mankind suddenly found himself against another Persona, and this time, he only half won…
And now, another sliver of a fractured view of life, as from the pen of Dave Lovelace…
